He is profoundly afraid of failure, and he is afraid of being considered weak. Fearįor all of his desire to be strong, Okonkwo is haunted by fear. Okonkwo's harshness drives Nwoye away from the family and into the arms of the new religion. But throughout the novel, we are shown men with more sophisticated understanding of masculinity. Male power lies in authority and brute force.
For him, any kind of tenderness is a sign of weakness and effeminacy. Masculinity is one of Okonkwo's obsessions, and he defines masculinity quite narrowly. As often happens with tragedy, the catastrophe comes through a complex mix of external forces and the character's choices. Later, several events occur to undermine this belief, and Okonkwo is embittered by the experience. The belief that he controls his own destiny is of central importance to Okonkwo. There is an Igbo saying that when a man says yes, his chi, or spirit, says yes also. He is often too harsh with his family, and he is haunted by a fear of failure. He is driven and determined, but his greatness comes from the same traits that are the source of his weaknesses. He rises from humble beginnings to a position of leadership, and he is a wealthy man. Okonkwo is determined to be a lord of his clan. These events are all the more painful for the reader because so much time has been spent in sympathetic description of Igbo life the reader realizes that he has been learning about a way of life that no longer exists. Religion is threatened, Umuofia loses its self-determination, and the very centers of tribal life are threatened. Towards the end of the novel, we witness the events by which Igbo society begins to fall apart. The reader learns much about Igbo customs and traditions depicting this world is a central part of the novel. The novel documents what the white man destroyed. The novel is the story of Okonkwo's tragedy, but it is also a record of Igbo life before the coming of the white man. Digression is one of Achebe's main tools.